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My favorite part of the commentary was this comment: “Unfailingly, human beings pity their ancestors for being so ignorant and forget that their descendants will pity them for the same reason.” I guess that’s my confirmation bias, but I like it because I had that revelation about two years ago. I was sitting in church, and my pastor was preaching (I don’t remember what he was preaching on…) but he became sidetracked and began talking about what people trust. I had never thought about it before, but he started talking about this very thing: throughout the years, what people thought of as reliable turned out to be untrue…science isn’t some set thing, it keeps changing as new things are discovered. An example I have is phlogiston. Phlogiston is “a nonexistent chemical that, prior to the discovery of oxygen, was thought to be released during combustion.” (dictionary.com). In the past, though, phlogiston made sense. I began to wonder what, when I am old and grey, will m grandchildren look back on and say “I can’t believe you guys thought that.” My reaction to the line “the creative mind fashions the world in which we live”, I only have one comment: our mind is the lens through which we see the world.

This PSA was cleverly done. It was very smart of them to use history (that is tobacco) and that situation and equate it with global warming. It is this cleverness that actually leads me to distrust the PSA. They spent too much time talking about why people who say climate change isn’t happening cannot be trusted and not enough time backing their own claims. Just because they say that only phony science disagrees with them does not, logically, mean that they are correct…they need to support their own claims, too. An example of what I mean: I say that Green Tea Kitkats are the best Kitkats. To back this claim, I talk about how gross dark chocolate kitkats are. I have not said why Green Tea Kitkats are good, only why Dark Chocolate Kitkats are bad. Just because dark chocolate kitkats are bad does not make green tea kitkats good. And what about all the other flavors (like Ice cream flavor). This is not the best example, but c’est la vie.

HCG

“Today’s latest revolutionary weight loss tactic in the dieting world is a hormone known as HCG. HCG is a common hormone that is naturally made in the body of pregnant women and has also been scientifically proven to burn excess adipose tissue. Now you can purchase HCG supplements, pills, nasal sprays, injections, and oral drops in order to release this exceptional hormone within your own body. It’s easy, effective, and extremely safe compared to many other diets utilized by people in today’s unhealthy world.”

It looks reliable because it is the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Their intro is “The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the US Department of Labor produces some of the Nation’s most widely followed measures of the economy. http://www.bls.gov”

This project was fun, but it took me a very long time. The easiest part of this project was coming up with my beliefs. I spend a lot of time thinking about what I believe and and why and how that affects my world view. It was not hard for me to choose or put into words, in fact it took about five minutes. Coming up with the concept was not difficult (though it took a lot of thought: I am not a photographer, I can’t draw, and I don’t have the patience for Stop Motion, but thank God for Photoshp ). I did not have trouble for the most part with figuring out what pictures I wanted for each belief (notable exception: “I believe in Truth”…how do you show that?). My friends Katie and Michael were kind enough to be in my pictures and they were good models; we got most of the photos done in one Study Hall. Photoshop took the most time. I refuse to divuldge how many hours the photoshoping took me, I’ll just say too many. Most of the editing I did is subtle so you can’t really see it…but that’s life. I attempted to use Adobe Premire, but my pictures were grainy so I gave up and used imovie. The song is a string cover of “Dance, Dance” by Fall Out Boy.

The belief I would like to go with is “I believe fear is the mind killer.” (it is a Dune reference).

If I could change one thing, I would add to my list “I believe that Japan is CUTE”…I didn’t think of it then because I did not have the expanded world view I have now (I write this as a watch a Japanese man look for his purse that he forgot (google translate told me that)…even the way he walks is adorable).